System Number: 11955
Date: 31 July 1867
Author: Committee of the Burlington Fine Arts Club[1]
Place: London
Recipient: JW
Place: London
Repository: Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Call Number: National Art Library, PC12/6, 86.KK.11
Document Type: ALdS[2]
31st July - Committee
Present
Mr Morrison[3]
" Fisher[4]
" Wornum[5]
Read a letter[6] from Mr Whistler dated the 25th of July, and enclosing a copy of his letter to Messrs Boxall[7] and Huth, of the 25th of June.
Resolved that the following letter in reply be written to Mr Whistler -
Bn. F. A. club
July 31st 1867
Sir
I am instructed by the Committee to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 25th instant, with its enclosures -
The Committee do not observe in this or in any other of the letters and papers forwarded to them by you, any denial or explanation of the assault[8] brought to the notice of the Committee by Mr F. Seymour Haden[9].
They have therefore only to refer you to their two letters[10] dated respectively the 11th and 13th of June, and to a letter[11] from [p. 2] Mr R Fisher, to your proposer Mr Boxall, which that gentleman informs the Committee he has transmitted to you.
I am Sir
Your obt Servant
R. N. Wornum
Hon. Sec.
J. A. M. Whistler Esq
2 Lindsey Row
Chelsea
This document is protected by copyright.
Notes:
1. Committee of the Burlington Fine Arts Club
The Committee of the Burlington Fine Arts Club, founded early in 1866. JW was proposed as a member on 22 February 1867 (see letter of proposal from William Boxall (1800-1879), portrait painter, Director of the National Gallery [more], Louis Huth (1821-1905), collector [more], and the Vittorio Emanuelle Taparelli (1816-1890), Marquis D'Azeglio, Sardinian Ambassador and collector [more], #11957).
2. ALdS
This section of minutes from the Burlington Club Committee Meeting of 31 July 1867 includes the draft of a letter to be sent to JW. It is probably written in the Secretary R. N. Wornum's hand.
3. Mr Morrison
Possibly Hargrave Morrison (b. 1817), oil and colour merchant [more].
4. Fisher
Richard Fisher (d. 1890), Fellow and Curator of the Society of Painter-Etchers [more].
5. Wornum
Ralph Nicholson Wornum (1812-1877), history painter [more].
6. letter
See JW to Burlington Fine Arts Club Committee, 25 July 1867, #00442.
7. letter to Messrs Boxall and Huth
William Boxall (1800-1879), portrait painter, Director of the National Gallery [more], and Louis Huth (1821-1905), collector [more]. See JW to W. Boxall, 25 June 1867 (#00401).
8. assault
In April 1867, JW quarrelled with F. S. Haden, over Haden's treatment of James Reeves Traer (ca 1834 - d.1867), partner in F. S. Haden's medical practice [more]. Traer died suddenly on 23 April during a trip to Paris, of alcohol related causes. Haden arranged for Traer's burial with what JW and his brother William regarded as unseemly haste. On 26 April, a violent row took place between the brothers-in-law in a Paris café and Haden fell (or allegedly was pushed by JW) through a plate glass window. Both JW and Haden were members of the Burlington Fine Arts Club and in the aftermath of the Traer affair, Haden campaigned for JW to be excluded from the club, having brought to its attention several alleged previous incidents of assault involving JW (JW to L. Huth, 19 December 1867, #02240).
9. F. Seymour Haden.
Francis Seymour Haden (1818-1910), surgeon and etcher, JW's brother-in-law [more].
10. two letters
See R. N. Wornum to JW, 11 June 1867, #10442, and 13 June 1867, #00437, respectively.